Holy Grail Amp in the House!!!

Seriously, if there was ever an amp that "deserved" the Scumbacks, it's this one! Get with Jim and see which mix of 2 he recommends. DO IT!
He and I had several conversations many years ago when I was active on TGP. Knows his stuff, and I’ve always been intrigued. Have you got the Scumbacks in any of your cabs or combos?

I’m curious as to whether they’re ‘different’ or truly ‘an improvement’. I’ve occasionally considered getting a set for one of my cabs.

Thoughts?
 
He and I had several conversations many years ago when I was active on TGP. Knows his stuff, and I’ve always been intrigued. Have you got the Scumbacks in any of your cabs or combos?

I’m curious as to whether they’re ‘different’ or truly ‘an improvement’. I’ve occasionally considered getting a set for one of my cabs.

Thoughts?
I replaced the V30 in my HXDA 30w combo with a Scumback. It was a big improvement imo. I may have even posted clips here at the time. @toothace as that HXDA now.
 
Most I have bought watching Reverb. They are sometimes under German brand names like RFT or Rohre. Mesa does have one, they’ll all be NOS tubes because they haven’t had STR450 in the catalog for a long time. As an aside, the Mesa STR450 was commonly listed at $150 or less a pair until the “no more tubes” scare and Covid, then they went to $175, and again up to $225 a pair as a normal price… you’ll find most at that price today.

If you shop Reverb and EBay, some sellers in Germany have marginally better pricing at times. You just have to shop. Like all NOS tubes, it’s just keeping your eyes open for what you’re wanting.

Yes, I noticed the price on the Mesa tubes was... not cheap! Does anyone know, are these Siemens EL34's actually made by RFT? TubeDepot has the RFT made, Siemens branded EL34 for $165, which is a whole lot cheaper than Mesa, but I don't know if they're the same tube.

I wonder if Mesa is having to sift through these tubes and find those that fit their tolerance, since they usually only sell tubes that fit a certain spec so that no biasing is necessary? That's an area that PRS hit an absolute home run, IMO, putting bias test points on the back of the amp.
 
Some observations...

The HXDA almost makes it feel too easy! It has all the plexi bark and crunch I want, without any of the annoying extra stuff I don't, like abrasive high end, booming lows, or mushy loss of definition with the gain turned up. Any little nagging things can easily be zapped with the HXDA switches.

One thing I was really interested in was comparing to the HDRX 20, which I got to do today. I had thought about selling the HDRX, just out of redundancy, but I think I'll be keeping it. As I had expected, or perhaps hoped, the HXDA has a more mid-forward tone, with more bark, less low end, than the HDRX. Is it really more mid, or just less bass... I don't know! But, it makes sense that the HDRX is fatter, Hendrix's amps were tuned around single coil guitar tones. While the HDRX crunch tones are no slouch, I mean they're really freaking fantastic, the cleans are just awesome, and I think they best the HXDA, at least in the extent that I've been able to test so far. Less mid honk, full lows, more balanced. It makes sense, it's what makes the HXDA wonderful cranked up.

Also, strangely enough, the HDRX 20 is a hair louder than the HXDA 30. Doug Sewell is doing some crazy stuff with power sections these days, these amps aren't toys! I'm so stocked on tone, it isn't even funny!
 
He and I had several conversations many years ago when I was active on TGP. Knows his stuff, and I’ve always been intrigued. Have you got the Scumbacks in any of your cabs or combos?

I’m curious as to whether they’re ‘different’ or truly ‘an improvement’. I’ve occasionally considered getting a set for one of my cabs.

Thoughts?
Les, unfortunately, I do not have any Scumbacks. Every time I get ready to buy a pair, something else comes up. But I have heard them in person a couple times. One time, a friend borrowed a cab and we played it for a while and all the guys there just love it. It was a closed back 2x12. He told us it had “Greenbacks” in it and they were much smoother than all three versions of Greenback I owned at the time. We later found out there were Scumbacks but the owner didn’t tell him exactly what models, just that they were “like greenbacks.”

Another time, I played an amp in a store that had a Scumback in it. I had never heard that particular amp before but it sounded great, and when I looked it had a Scumback in it.

I’ve talked to Jim several times at TGP and once had an order filled out for months and kept buying more amps and never clicked “buy.” I actually sent him a message just a couple weeks ago to talk about speakers again, then bought the Blistertone. LOL. But I probably will talk to him soon and get a pair for one of the cabs.
 
Seriously, if there was ever an amp that "deserved" the Scumbacks, it's this one! Get with Jim and see which mix of 2 he recommends. DO IT!

He and I had several conversations many years ago when I was active on TGP. Knows his stuff, and I’ve always been intrigued. Have you got the Scumbacks in any of your cabs or combos?

I’m curious as to whether they’re ‘different’ or truly ‘an improvement’. I’ve occasionally considered getting a set for one of my cabs.

Thoughts?

I replaced the V30 in my HXDA 30w combo with a Scumback. It was a big improvement imo. I may have even posted clips here at the time. @toothace as that HXDA now.

I've thought about getting some of the J magnet Scumbacks, to sit between the M and H size magnets, but the plain ol' Celestion Greenbacks sound pretty good to me, too, it's hard to choose. I really enjoy the Greenback comparisons on this YT channel, and he seems to be most enamored with the Mojotone speakers, including over the Scumbacks... personally, I think the Celestions sound closest to the originals. But, the Scumbacks can be ordered for different power levels, which is nice.

 
Yes, I noticed the price on the Mesa tubes was... not cheap! Does anyone know, are these Siemens EL34's actually made by RFT?
From what I read, the later Siemens tubes were made by RFT in East Germany after the Western European companies stopped making tubes around 1980. Previously, Siemens tubes were made by companies like Mullard (which I think may have been owned by Philips by that time, so it could have been any of several Philips-owned plants).

Siemens was using their tubes for products like their medical equipment, so they may have tested them before boxing them up.
TubeDepot has the RFT made, Siemens branded EL34 for $165, which is a whole lot cheaper than Mesa, but I don't know if they're the same tube.
They’re most likely the same tube. In fact, the Siemens I bought from Mesa were $165 per matched pair at first, and based on the Tube Depot pictures, had the same base and shape.

I bought the Mesas because Mesa matches theirs and puts a color code on the tube so one tube can be replaced in a pair just by looking at the color code and using another with the same color code, instead of having to replace both tubes with a matched set.

It’s a nice convenience, but I wouldn’t spend the difference in price at this point.

One thing you may probably already know about the tube industry is that the tube manufacturers sometimes bought tubes from their competitors and re-branded them. So you’ll sometimes find Bugle Boys from Holland that were made by Mullard in England, etc. The same happened here.

The late ‘60s Westinghouse pair a friend sent me were clearly made by Tung-Sol, even though Westinghouse was still making tubes themselves. Sadly one of the tubes lost its vacuum seal and went bad, probably many years ago. The other tube is fine.
I wonder if Mesa is having to sift through these tubes and find those that fit their tolerance, since they usually only sell tubes that fit a certain spec so that no biasing is necessary? That's an area that PRS hit an absolute home run, IMO, putting bias test points on the back of the amp.
I sure agree about the PRS home run!

I read an article many years ago where Randall Smith said that early on he came up with the idea of a factory-set bias because players and even techs kept screwing up his amps by biasing tubes improperly. His customers didn’t want to pay a tech to adjust the bias, regardless. People would bring in an amp and complain that something was wrong, and he’d see that it simply wasn’t biased.

Nonetheless, there never was perfect tube matching, and there isn’t now except by pure luck — it’s always been ‘within tolerances’. This is true of all the tube suppliers. The matched pair of Mesa Siemens tubes I have in the HXDA measure several mV apart, and I bias them by finding a middle ground that’s ‘close enough’.

Mesa amps are biased pretty cold and will work with most decent tubes. I’ve used lots of non-Mesa branded tubes in my Mesas without issue since the ‘80s (in fact, I have the Telefunkens in my Fillmore, and the amp sounds significantly better to me).

Incidentally, Mesa is now branding Chinese-made 6L6 Psvane tubes as STR480s. I’ve been reading that these are truly well made tubes that compete with NOS, and sound great. There are also Western Electric, who make 300Bs here in the US and keep saying they’re going to make 12AX7s, and a high end manufacturer of (I think) KT77s in the Czech Republic.

So maybe there’s hope that down the road we’re going to see some great new tubes again.

One other note that interests me:

Eurotubes has JJ make 6L6s for Mesa combos with double Mica spacers. This is to cut down on tube rattle, and apparently it’s a good solution. I have a lot of respect for JJ tubes among modern manufacturers. I had a real problem with tube rattle in my Lone Star 2x12 combo; this was solved by installing the Telefunken cryo-treated 6L6s. I am not experiencing rattle with the NOS Siemens EL34s, either. But install current-make Russian or Chinese tubes and there’s that mechanical ringing in the top end that drives me bonkers.

I would never buy another combo amp for that very reason.
 
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From what I read, the later Siemens tubes were made by RFT in East Germany after the Western European companies stopped making tubes around 1980. Previously, Siemens tubes were made by companies like Mullard (which I think may have been owned by Philips by that time, so it could have been any of several Philips-owned plants).

Siemens was using their tubes for products like their medical equipment, so they may have tested them before boxing them up.

They’re most likely the same tube. In fact, the Siemens I bought from Mesa were $165 per matched pair at first, and based on the Tube Depot pictures, had the same base and shape.

I bought the Mesas because Mesa matches theirs and puts a color code on the tube so one tube can be replaced in a pair just by looking at the color code and using another with the same color code, instead of having to replace both tubes with a matched set.

It’s a nice convenience, but I wouldn’t spend the difference in price at this point.

One thing you may probably already know about the tube industry is that the tube manufacturers sometimes bought tubes from their competitors and re-branded them. So you’ll sometimes find Bugle Boys from Holland that were made by Mullard in England, etc. The same happened here.

The late ‘60s Westinghouse pair a friend sent me were clearly made by Tung-Sol, even though Westinghouse was still making tubes themselves. Sadly one of the tubes lost its vacuum seal and went bad, probably many years ago. The other tube is fine.

I sure agree about the PRS home run!

I read an article many years ago where Randall Smith said that early on he came up with the idea of a factory-set bias because players and even techs kept screwing up his amps by biasing tubes improperly. His customers didn’t want to pay a tech to adjust the bias, regardless. People would bring in an amp and complain that something was wrong, and he’d see that it simply wasn’t biased.

Nonetheless, there never was perfect tube matching, and there isn’t now except by pure luck — it’s always been ‘within tolerances’. This is true of all the tube suppliers. The matched pair of Mesa Siemens tubes I have in the HXDA measure several mV apart, and I bias them by finding a middle ground that’s ‘close enough’.

Mesa amps are biased pretty cold and will work with most decent tubes. I’ve used lots of non-Mesa branded tubes in my Mesas without issue since the ‘80s (in fact, I have the Telefunkens in my Fillmore, and the amp sounds significantly better to me).

Incidentally, Mesa is now branding Chinese-made 6L6 Psvane tubes as STR480s. I’ve been reading that these are truly well made tubes that compete with NOS, and sound great. There are also Western Electric, who make 300Bs here in the US and keep saying they’re going to make 12AX7s, and a high end manufacturer of (I think) KT77s in the Czech Republic.

So maybe there’s hope that down the road we’re going to see some great new tubes again.

One other note that interests me:

Eurotubes has JJ make 6L6s for Mesa combos with double Mica spacers. This is to cut down on tube rattle, and apparently it’s a good solution. I have a lot of respect for JJ tubes among modern manufacturers. I had a real problem with tube rattle in my Lone Star 2x12 combo; this was solved by installing the Telefunken cryo-treated 6L6s. I am not experiencing rattle with the NOS Siemens EL34s, either. But install current-make Russian or Chinese tubes and there’s that mechanical ringing in the top end that drives me bonkers.

I would never buy another combo amp for that very reason.

Good reminder! I had gotten a nice handful of the double mica 6L6’s from Eurotubes (on your recommendation), but had to stick the remaining quad in the MT100 when one of the TAD’s that came stock went bad. I’ve always liked JJ’s 6L6, so those double micas are pretty much all I buy for 6L6’s now.

I need to order some more 12ax7 types from them while I’m it. I ended up putting JJ e83cc’s in V1 and V2 of the HXDA, and an NOS RCA long plate in the PI slot. I tried an NOS Mullard short plate and some other NOS tubes in V1 and they were microphonic, but I don’t think it’s the tubes themselves - I’ve found that some amps just don’t like certain tubes. My Custom 50 hates new production 12at7’s, they’re always microphonic in that amp. I wanted to try the ecc803s in the HXDA, but I’m out and don’t realize it.
 
Good reminder! I had gotten a nice handful of the double mica 6L6’s from Eurotubes (on your recommendation), but had to stick the remaining quad in the MT100 when one of the TAD’s that came stock went bad. I’ve always liked JJ’s 6L6, so those double micas are pretty much all I buy for 6L6’s now.

I need to order some more 12ax7 types from them while I’m it. I ended up putting JJ e83cc’s in V1 and V2 of the HXDA, and an NOS RCA long plate in the PI slot. I tried an NOS Mullard short plate and some other NOS tubes in V1 and they were microphonic, but I don’t think it’s the tubes themselves - I’ve found that some amps just don’t like certain tubes. My Custom 50 hates new production 12at7’s, they’re always microphonic in that amp. I wanted to try the ecc803s in the HXDA, but I’m out and don’t realize it.
I have an NOS Mullard in V1 of my HXDA and it’s not microphonic at all. In fact, at idle the amp is completely silent even with the MV full up.

You probably have a bad tube.

I also had a different type of NOS Mullard (I think it was a military version) in the V1 position for a while, but I don’t know what I did with it (might have given it to someone), and there was no noise or microphonics problem.
 
How's it going with the amp after living with it for a couple of weeks, @andy474x ?

Hopefully it's proving itself and is a winner.

It’s… disruptive.

We’ve all had that learning curve, where you just have to find out from experience, that no piece of gear is a magic bullet. You’re not going to find something that has everything you want in tone, nothing you don’t. Having that experience of lusting after a thing, and buying in to the notion that, hey, if I just had that piece of gear, all the tone would be at my beck and call, all my little nagging hangups from the gear I already have would go away, but they never do. Our brains get it after getting burned a few times… but sometimes the id still prevails.

Well, this one brewed for a long time. It was the perfect storm. I wanted it, but I wasn’t in a stage in life where I could afford it. Then it got discontinued!!! Time and reason kept going, but the desire was never extinguished. So, it finally happened, I gave in to desire, and my brain prepared for me for the consequences.


.


..





I’m still waiting! My whole worldview on gear is turned upside down! The rational attitude I’ve developed is in disarray!

Apologies for being dramatic, but it’s ALL there, with the rough edges smoothed out. if there’s a problem, it’s that I’m used to getting a little bit of fight and attitude, and the instant gratification is making me feel like I’m getting away with something. It’s a wonderfully tuned amp, and the HX/DA switches really do allow me to tweak the little things that I want to change from one sound to the next.

Also, the dynamics of how the amp goes from clean to dirty with the guitar volume are something I’ve not experienced. I know that playing the volume knob is the thing on an old school amp, but so many I’ve tried just don’t do it well - they really lose so much output and liveliness when they finally clean up, that it’s just not a realistic way to go. Yes, the science is that lower signal will make a clean tone, but what’s left to work with isn’t up to par. This still has oomph and volume to give even when the dirt goes away.

In the past, my go-to lead tone to record with was a boosting drive into a plexi in a box pedal - first a TS type into a Wampler Plexi Drive, then a Tumnus into a Friedman Dirty Shirley pedal - and they were great tones - but they always had that intermediary of whatever amp they were going through, the HXDA has all the things I liked about those sounds, but without the coloration of the middleman. Sounds great on its own, and at first I thought hey, why even boost it? But then I hit it with the Tumnus, and forget about it!

And, beyond that, it’s just the sound that fits what I want and need to record many things. Not modern high gain, but for the majority of tones, it’s mid forward enough to say something, not overloaded with excess bass, and I do like a strong dose of treble for articulation, but it’s not harsh or stealing fullness away.

Do you regret asking yet?
 
It’s… disruptive.

We’ve all had that learning curve, where you just have to find out from experience, that no piece of gear is a magic bullet. You’re not going to find something that has everything you want in tone, nothing you don’t. Having that experience of lusting after a thing, and buying in to the notion that, hey, if I just had that piece of gear, all the tone would be at my beck and call, all my little nagging hangups from the gear I already have would go away, but they never do. Our brains get it after getting burned a few times… but sometimes the id still prevails.

Well, this one brewed for a long time. It was the perfect storm. I wanted it, but I wasn’t in a stage in life where I could afford it. Then it got discontinued!!! Time and reason kept going, but the desire was never extinguished. So, it finally happened, I gave in to desire, and my brain prepared for me for the consequences.


.


..





I’m still waiting! My whole worldview on gear is turned upside down! The rational attitude I’ve developed is in disarray!

Apologies for being dramatic, but it’s ALL there, with the rough edges smoothed out. if there’s a problem, it’s that I’m used to getting a little bit of fight and attitude, and the instant gratification is making me feel like I’m getting away with something. It’s a wonderfully tuned amp, and the HX/DA switches really do allow me to tweak the little things that I want to change from one sound to the next.

Also, the dynamics of how the amp goes from clean to dirty with the guitar volume are something I’ve not experienced. I know that playing the volume knob is the thing on an old school amp, but so many I’ve tried just don’t do it well - they really lose so much output and liveliness when they finally clean up, that it’s just not a realistic way to go. Yes, the science is that lower signal will make a clean tone, but what’s left to work with isn’t up to par. This still has oomph and volume to give even when the dirt goes away.

In the past, my go-to lead tone to record with was a boosting drive into a plexi in a box pedal - first a TS type into a Wampler Plexi Drive, then a Tumnus into a Friedman Dirty Shirley pedal - and they were great tones - but they always had that intermediary of whatever amp they were going through, the HXDA has all the things I liked about those sounds, but without the coloration of the middleman. Sounds great on its own, and at first I thought hey, why even boost it? But then I hit it with the Tumnus, and forget about it!

And, beyond that, it’s just the sound that fits what I want and need to record many things. Not modern high gain, but for the majority of tones, it’s mid forward enough to say something, not overloaded with excess bass, and I do like a strong dose of treble for articulation, but it’s not harsh or stealing fullness away.

Do you regret asking yet?
Then it’s not just me… lol
 
When people say Little Wing has a magical sound they can't seem to get right, too often what's missing is that incredible transparency, where yes, you hear the amp, but you also hear clear through to the guitar.

There's no question about identifying exactly what you're listening to - it's a Strat, plain as day. Couldn't have been anything else.

You hear the strings, the woods, the hands, all the little nuances. If Hendrix played through his fuzz with the guitar turned down - it's possible - you hear that, too, but it isn't clouding up the tone either.

That transparency in a guitar amp is pretty incredible. The HXDA does it.

One of the amazing things about the amp is how clean and transparent it can be; that's why I posted the clean demo a week or two ago.

And Live at the Fillmore, where the amp Duane Allman was using was cloned for the HXDA, you're hearing that Les Paul come through with some compression and sustain the amp adds, but yeah, you can still hear the guitar and there's no doubt about it. Nothing's cloudy, it isn't over-compressed, it's an immediate tone. The dynamics, the responsiveness are simply different from most modern amps.

And it's not crazy-distorted. It simply sings.

I don't think it can be done with 99% of the circuit board amps out there. And it can only be approximated with a digital re-creation. Admittedly, that's personal opinion, but try it and see if you can achieve the transparency you're hearing on those recordings with most amps.

BTW - The DG30 achieves that kind of transparency, too, if in a different way.
 
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When people say Little Wing has a magical sound they can't seem to get right, too often what's missing is that incredible transparency, where yes, you hear the amp, but you also hear clear through to the guitar.

There's no question about identifying exactly what you're listening to - it's a Strat, plain as day. Couldn't have been anything else.

You hear the strings, the woods, the hands, all the little nuances. If Hendrix played through his fuzz with the guitar turned down - it's possible - you hear that, too, but it isn't clouding up the tone either.

That transparency in a guitar amp is pretty incredible. The HXDA does it.

One of the amazing things about the amp is how clean and transparent it can be; that's why I posted the clean demo a week or two ago.

And Live at the Fillmore, where the amp Duane Allman was using was cloned for the HXDA, you're hearing that Les Paul come through with some compression and sustain the amp adds, but yeah, you can still hear the guitar and there's no doubt about it. Nothing's cloudy, it isn't over-compressed, it's an immediate tone. The dynamics, the responsiveness are simply different from most modern amps.

And it's not crazy-distorted. It simply sings.

I don't think it can be done with 99% of the circuit board amps out there. And it can only be approximated with a digital re-creation. Admittedly, that's personal opinion, but try it and see if you can achieve the transparency you're hearing on those recordings with most amps.

BTW - The DG30 achieves that kind of transparency, too, if in a different way.

There really isn’t an excess of distortion on tap - in a good way, it stops right at that line where things start to get mushy, but 90% of the gain pots’ travel is in the sweet spot. I picked up a Wampler Ratsbane yesterday to go after some of those nasty Justin Hawkins/The Darkness lead tones that do have some of that squish and splat, I believe he used a Rat for his leads. It’s cool, but not a sound I’d want the amp to have inherently.

Does anyone know what the master is doing on this amp? I believe the master on the 25th amp was some kind of power/wattage scaling? The master on the HXDA is very consistent, including not adding a lot of breakup at higher settings, so wondering if it’s a power scaling of some kind. Or maybe just a really good PPIMV.

I ordered a Studio Slips cover for the 2x12, head had a nice PRS cover already, but I wanted to wrap up that awesome matching cab. Double padding and bottoms straps to really do it right, and what made it especially worthwhile is the cover will fit my paisley 2x12 and HDRX cab as well, they’re all about the same size.
 
It’s… disruptive.

We’ve all had that learning curve, where you just have to find out from experience, that no piece of gear is a magic bullet. You’re not going to find something that has everything you want in tone, nothing you don’t. Having that experience of lusting after a thing, and buying in to the notion that, hey, if I just had that piece of gear, all the tone would be at my beck and call, all my little nagging hangups from the gear I already have would go away, but they never do. Our brains get it after getting burned a few times… but sometimes the id still prevails.

Well, this one brewed for a long time. It was the perfect storm. I wanted it, but I wasn’t in a stage in life where I could afford it. Then it got discontinued!!! Time and reason kept going, but the desire was never extinguished. So, it finally happened, I gave in to desire, and my brain prepared for me for the consequences.


.


..





I’m still waiting! My whole worldview on gear is turned upside down! The rational attitude I’ve developed is in disarray!

Apologies for being dramatic, but it’s ALL there, with the rough edges smoothed out. if there’s a problem, it’s that I’m used to getting a little bit of fight and attitude, and the instant gratification is making me feel like I’m getting away with something. It’s a wonderfully tuned amp, and the HX/DA switches really do allow me to tweak the little things that I want to change from one sound to the next.

Also, the dynamics of how the amp goes from clean to dirty with the guitar volume are something I’ve not experienced. I know that playing the volume knob is the thing on an old school amp, but so many I’ve tried just don’t do it well - they really lose so much output and liveliness when they finally clean up, that it’s just not a realistic way to go. Yes, the science is that lower signal will make a clean tone, but what’s left to work with isn’t up to par. This still has oomph and volume to give even when the dirt goes away.

In the past, my go-to lead tone to record with was a boosting drive into a plexi in a box pedal - first a TS type into a Wampler Plexi Drive, then a Tumnus into a Friedman Dirty Shirley pedal - and they were great tones - but they always had that intermediary of whatever amp they were going through, the HXDA has all the things I liked about those sounds, but without the coloration of the middleman. Sounds great on its own, and at first I thought hey, why even boost it? But then I hit it with the Tumnus, and forget about it!

And, beyond that, it’s just the sound that fits what I want and need to record many things. Not modern high gain, but for the majority of tones, it’s mid forward enough to say something, not overloaded with excess bass, and I do like a strong dose of treble for articulation, but it’s not harsh or stealing fullness away.

Do you regret asking yet?
So, you’re saying you like it?:D
 
There really isn’t an excess of distortion on tap - in a good way, it stops right at that line where things start to get mushy, but 90% of the gain pots’ travel is in the sweet spot. I picked up a Wampler Ratsbane yesterday to go after some of those nasty Justin Hawkins/The Darkness lead tones that do have some of that squish and splat, I believe he used a Rat for his leads. It’s cool, but not a sound I’d want the amp to have inherently.

Does anyone know what the master is doing on this amp? I believe the master on the 25th amp was some kind of power/wattage scaling? The master on the HXDA is very consistent, including not adding a lot of breakup at higher settings, so wondering if it’s a power scaling of some kind. Or maybe just a really good PPIMV.

I ordered a Studio Slips cover for the 2x12, head had a nice PRS cover already, but I wanted to wrap up that awesome matching cab. Double padding and bottoms straps to really do it right, and what made it especially worthwhile is the cover will fit my paisley 2x12 and HDRX cab as well, they’re all about the same size.
I have some studio slips covers and bags. They’re well made, and they’ve held up well. I have Tuki covers on the HXDAs, which also fit like a glove and offer solid protection. Either way, any CAD amp deserves a padded cover or case if it’s ever leaving the house. The HXDA 50 is a paisley covered version… too pretty to trash up, too awesome to leave at home. Hell, the black combo is too! Covers make me feel better!

This conversation reminded me of a special HXDA. I never found it, and my wallet still shivers whenever I look at pictures of it. It was in this post:

 
Does anyone know what the master is doing on this amp? I believe the master on the 25th amp was some kind of power/wattage scaling? The master on the HXDA is very consistent, including not adding a lot of breakup at higher settings, so wondering if it’s a power scaling of some kind. Or maybe just a really good PPIMV.

I think it's a standard master, very well done; might want to check with PRS, but that's what I recall from 2014 when I bought mine (hard to believe it's been a freaking decade!).

I ordered a Studio Slips cover for the 2x12, head had a nice PRS cover already, but I wanted to wrap up that awesome matching cab. Double padding and bottoms straps to really do it right, and what made it especially worthwhile is the cover will fit my paisley 2x12 and HDRX cab as well, they’re all about the same size.

Good choice!

I had a Studio Slips zip-around cover for all of my Two-Rocks. At the time, I was doing more work in other studios, and there were times I had to drag the heads in and out of the back of the car. It's the best-designed cover on the market (just my opinion) because it completely wraps around and protects the bottom of the amp. When I gigged or went to other studios, there were times that came in handy.

Just getting amps and cabs in and out of cars can get the bottom of the amp dinged or scraped up.
 
This conversation reminded me of a special HXDA. I never found it, and my wallet still shivers whenever I look at pictures of it. It was in this post:

That one's pretty special, indeed. And it's what CAD was originally intended to be - a true custom amp shop. I guess it wasn't to stay that way for long, and they got the idea to go offshore to get cheaper stuff.

It probably would have been something like PS or WL if they'd stuck with it.
 
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